Red Wings falter in loss at Calgary

Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, right, of Finland, makes a save as Detroit Red Wings' Gustav Nyquist, of Sweden, pressures during the second period of their NHL hockey game in Calgary, Alberta, Wednesday, April 17, 2013. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Larry MacDougal)

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Steve Begin scored two goals in the third period, and the Calgary Flames held on to hand the playoff-hopeful Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 loss on Wednesday night.

Begin took advantage of a pair of blunders by goalie Jimmy Howard to score his third and fourth goals of the season.

Lee Stempniak also scored for the Flames (17-22-4), who won all three games against the Red Wings this season.

Gustav Nyquist and Johan Franzen scored for the Red Wings (20-16-7), who are 2-2-2 in their past six games. Detroit is tied with Columbus for eighth place in the Western Conference with only five games remaining.

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Miikka Kiprusoff made 36 saves to earn his first win since he topped St. Louis on March 24. Joey MacDonald had started Calgary’s three previous games.

Howard, who signed a six-year, $31.8 million contract on Tuesday, stopped 14 shots.

Early in the third period, Howard played the puck behind his net and attempted to send a pass to defenseman Jonathan Ericsson. Begin noticed the puck got tied up in Howard’s feet, and he alertly poked it off the goalie’s right skate and into the net.

Later in the frame, with Calgary defenseman Dennis Wideman in the penalty box for cross-checking, Howard mishandled the puck while again trying to play it behind his net.

Begin was again the beneficiary as he picked up the loose puck and scored into the empty net to give Calgary a 3-1 lead.

Franzen pulled the Wings to within one with an unlikely goal with 2:42 remaining. Franzen backhanded the puck into the Calgary zone from center ice, and it took an odd bounce right through Kiprusoff’s legs.

The veteran goalie then made a great glove save with 16.6 seconds left, stopping a shot off the stick of defenseman Jakub Kindl to preserve the victory.

Howard had to be sharp early, and he stood his ground to turn aside a pair of shots by Matt Stajan.

It took the Red Wings until just after the five-minute mark for Valteri Filppula to record their first shot, which Kiprusoff easily turned aside. The Finnish goalie then stopped quality shots by Damian Brunner and Henrik Zetterberg before making a great save with his left pad to deny Joakim Andersson.

The Flames opened the scoring at 13:28 of the first when Stempniak swatted a rebound past Howard. Cory Sarich took the initial shot, and the puck bounced right to Stempniak, who was driving hard to the net.

Calgary outshot Detroit 10-8 in the first period before the Red Wings had an 11-2 edge in the second.

The Red Wings scored the lone goal of the second period when Nyquist tapped a cross-crease pass from Andersson past Kiprusoff.

NOTES: Stajan returned to Calgary’s lineup after missing four games because of an upper-body injury. ... Flames rookie Sven Baertschi earned an assist on Stempniak’s goal. He has two goals and two assists in his past three games. ... The Flames also beat the Red Wings 4-1 in Detroit on Feb. 5 and 5-2 at home on March 13. ... Franzen has scored goals in three straight games.